Top 20 players of 2016: device (3)

Nicolai "device" Reedtz earned the third spot in our ranking this year—making it his second in a row—thanks to his prodigious consistency, unfailing statistics, and well-rounded play.

Nicolai "device" Reedtz started his career playing CS:Source in Denmark, a region which was full of talent in the game. His history dates back to 2009 when he attended his first local LANs. It wasn’t much later, in 2011, when he broke out playing for CPH Wolves and started placing high up at events like CPH Games.

In 2014 device made an incursion into HLTV’s top 20 for the first time, coming in 20th. During that time device and Dignitas made several semifinal runs, including at two Majors, EMS One Katowice and ESL One Cologne. On top of that, he and his team also scored good results at other non-Major events, in which device was a big contributor.

A few good Danes won a lot in 2015

With the advent of Finn "karrigan" Andersen to the team in late 2014, which would shortly after go under TSM, hit a new high. With five first places and a handful of second places, 2015 proved to be the breakout year for the Danish squad. Reedtz ended the year with a 1.15 rating and was named HLTV’s third best player of the year.

"2015 was very weird when I look back at that time. The first half of the year me and xyp9x were still attending school and lived a pretty stressful life managing all of that. It was fun though, like, it wasn’t that serious back then.

"Obviously, we played to win, but having obligations in school took the mind off of Counter-Strike because there were things you have to do. I feel like we won because we didn’t put any pressure on ourselves back then and we just played.

"When we finished school it all got more serious, there was more pressure and I think that hurt our confidence when we had losses—the toughest one being DreamHack Cluj-Napoca where we were favorites to win. The game against NiP did something to us as a lineup that I can’t explain. I think our problems started back then."

Having taken heed of device’s growth as a player and individual since his more untamed years until now we asked him to break down some of his evolution for us, which he did:

"I grew up playing badminton since I was young, so I have since then always cared mostly about my own performance—which was a really bad mindset to have, in hindsight.

"Since we started working with a sports psychologist I occasionally open some of my books when I am at home and just read a little since I get challenged by her a lot mentally.

"I run, I do a little fitness—I love exercising in general. I use it to get away from all of the CS thoughts that I feel like can take over in your everyday life. Also, I feel like challenging myself physically does something positive for me. After we lost at DH Cluj I started reading sports psychology literature and some sport biographies from 'regular sport' professionals.

"I think I used all that information to understand that there are a lot more aspects to being a professional than just playing. And I learned how an individual should deal with pressure from all the different angles that can affect you. The most important thing for me was to learn how a team functions in all aspects."

Moving into 2016 the Danish team found themselves without a roof after falling out with the TSM organization. Going under the name "?", the Danes went to their first event of the year, SL i-League StarLadder Season XIV. At the time they were ranked the 4th best team in the world per our rankings.

In Minsk, "?" went out in 5-6th place, which was their first blow of the year despite going out to the finalists Natus Vincere, as the Danes dropped a big advantage in the third map of the series. The next event of the year they attended, DreamHack Leipzig, would be a hallmark moment for the team as it was their first under their new organization, Astralis.

These two events were kind of quiet for device, who was just under a 1.00 rating in both, but moving forward he went on an absolute rampage for the whole rest of 2016 without going under 1.00 at a single tournament out of the following 16.

"I don’t think there were any disadvantages [to forming Astralis]. I have obviously heard all of the theories about us relaxing more because we felt “safe”, but I don’t think that is true.

"As I wrote before, I think our problems started after the loss at DreamHack Cluj-Napoca and how we tried to deal with them which was, in hindsight, very incorrect.

"We didn’t have open conversations about obvious things that made our team drift apart. I think we were all shying away from conflicts that could’ve kept us together. Instead we became 5 individuals."

The next event on the schedule was the GEC Finals in Lithuania. At the GameShow studios device put on a stellar show and ended with a 1.22 rating, the first of several over 1.20 ratings of the season. Despite going out in the semifinals after losing to Envy, device was named an EVP of the tournament.

Astralis got a second place at ESL Barcelona, one of their better finishes at the beginning of the year. At the convention center in Barcelona, a mere hundred meters away from the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, device signed a masterpiece of his own, ending the event with a 1.19 rating and earning his second EVP award in a row. At both of these events, device had over 1.30 impact—which values multi-kill rounds, opening kills, and winning clutch situations.

Hoping to win again, device was living on the edge of tomorrow

At IEM Katowice and Counter Pit Season 2 Astralis were still hanging on. They were no longer on the cusp of their game, but 2nd and 3-4th place finishes at those events weren't catastrophic. In Katowice, device had another outstanding performance, but one of his two dips in performance throughout the year came in Split. At Counter Pit he ended with a 1.02 rating, last in the team.

The first Major of the year was next, MLG Columbus, in which Astralis had a bitter semifinal placing. With a 1.17 rating after the event, 80.5 ADR, and 75.2% KAST, device was starting to make a case for himself at the Majors as a whole, despite a few blunders in their semifinal match against Natus Vincere.

"Obviously the MLG Major was probably the toughest for me, since I thought I had skewed away from all of the 'choke' reputation and so on, but I had a really tough semi and that tore me down for a day or two. Eventually I just accepted that it will always be a part of who I am, and how I will be remembered as well.

"I think having so many tournaments just took your mind off of the disappointing results since there was always just another one, you know? There was no time to be sad—move on and try even harder at the next event."

Up next was DreamHack Masters, in Malmö, where one of the biggest disappointments of the year for Astralis came. The Danish side went out in groups after losing a best-of-three against their nemesis, NiP, and missed out on a crowd full of Danes who then had to put their hopes on Dignitas to try and reconquer Scania.

With two group stage exits in a row, Astralis were starting to become outsiders

After Malmö, the Season 3 Pro League finals in England came around—another heartbreak for the Danes who went out in 7-8th place. That event would also mark the end of an era with cajunb being replaced by the young gun Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye. In London, though, device still managed a 1.27 rating with a staggering 93.2 ADR and 1.43 impact, and put on a memorable display against eventual winners Luminosity.

"The way we arrived at changing cajunb was done wrongly. We didn't really have open conversations about how we were or weren’t evolving.

"But there was an opening to get the biggest Danish talent, and we took it. We never really performed under the karrigan’s leadership with him and we didn't really have that ‘team feeling/chemistry’ that we got almost instantly with gla1ve."

ELEAGUE Season 1 was the event at which Astralis played the most maps, 13. For device, it was time to wreak havoc. To kick the group stages off, Astralis stomped their way to a first place finish ahead of the playoffs.

DreamHack Summer should have been a nice respite from a stacked year full of high-level tournaments, but losing to NiP in the playoffs once again didn’t do much to help the team’s already flimsy morale from weaning results. That notwithstanding, as had come to be the norm, device’s numbers were astronomical.

At this point, Astralis were shattered glass

Another lose two and barbecue for Astralis came at the ECS Season 1 finals, again in London. In the three maps played—all lost—against TSM and Cloud9. In spite of that, device still managed to hold his own.

After ECS Season 1 came one of device’s most meaningful performances of the season. With Kjaerbye unable to play at ESL One Cologne and Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander as a stand-in, and dupreeh out after just two matches due to illness which made Danny "zonic" Sørensen have to step into the server, device laced up his boots and ran the war paint across his face going on to deliver an absolute master class in CS securing his team’s presence at the next Major.

device played without limits in Cologne

He left the second Major with a 1.22 rating, 86.6 ADR, 1.35 impact, and 73.9% KAST, becoming the second highest rated player at Majors this year.

Back in Atlanta for the ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals, Astralis closed out the event in 5-8th place after a quick 2-0 loss to mousesports. Personally, device ended the event with a monstrous +85 KDD, 92.3 ADR, and a 1.29 rating in his team’s run to the quarterfinals.

"I started out the year being the primary AWPer and I felt like it was going really well. It was fun and challenging, but when we brought in Kjaerbye and had major preparations with gla1ve I got back to rifling for a short period, so I've been swapped around a few times this year.

"I watched demos of all the top AWPers and tried to develop my own style, I made a google docs with which moves I needed to try on specific maps and sides and then I evaluated which worked for me, and that would be my go-to. Then in the latter part of the year I used a program that shows an overview heat map and then shows my tendencies and I tried to become more diverse, especially on CT."

SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 came after the summer break, and Astralis went out in 5-8th—something which had now become the rule rather than the exception—and device still managed to put up solid numbers.

ESL New York was a moment of flux for Astralis. After another 7th place exit the team decided to make changes, benching karrigan and bringing on gla1ve to start calling for the team. In New York, device had the odd "bad" tournament, in which he rated 1.00.

"The adaption to a new IGL was the toughest part for me, since I liked the way karrigan did his leading. He was very impulsive and had very good reads whereas we now rely more on playing directly as we do in practice in our official games. I think that gives us more stability even though I can see the positives in both ways."

The inclusion of gla1ve gave new life to Astralis. At IEM Oakland Astralis ended in the top four of a big tournament again, and the Danes were able to then reach a final at the ELEAGUE Season 2 Finals in Atlanta, where they had finally beaten their bête noire, NiP, during the group stage. At both events, device scored a 1.14 rating, and in their run to the finals at ELEAGUE he was awarded his third EVP award of the season.

Mission: Impossible, beating NiP

Ending on a high note at the ECS Season 2 in Anaheim, California, Astralis won the last event of the year—going out with a bang ahead of the ELEAGUE Major. With a 1.34 rating, 88.1 ADR, 1.49 impact, and a 75% KAST, device not only got to lift a trophy but was also given an MVP medal.

"Obviously, winning ECS is the most memorable and also the latest tournament memory. It felt really great to showcase what we worked the entire year to achieve. Also, losing the final at E-League and then huddling up—sharing the loss together was a nice feeling.

"I think we learned throughout the year to stick to a philosophy, game-wise, being open with communication within the team, and all in all just believing that we have what it takes to be the best in the world again."

When asked about his goals for 2017 and the hype around Astralis for the ELEAGUE Major, device answered:

"I just wish to grow, to learn new aspects on how to perform better as a player and a teammate. And then I also want to win a Major.

"We don’t have the same feeling we had at DreamHack Cluj, it's kind of hard to explain. We feel ready, like we have what it takes. We can play any map, we feel confident in the team and that it's absolutely possible. But all of the 15 other teams have prepared immensely well too, and they all have what it takes to outperform each other. If we peak at the right time, then we will win."

Why is he the 3rd best player of 2016?

Reedtz was an EVP at two medium events, ESL Barcelona and GEC, at a larger event, ELEAGUE Season 2, and was eventually named MVP, at ECS Season 2. While some players had more standout events, what characterized device’s year was his ability to leave a mark at big events like IEM Katowice, IEM Oakland and—more importantly—, both Majors. At the Majors, the apex of CS:GO, device had the second-highest rating of the year, 1.20.

device did all the right moves and became MVP of the ECS S2 Finals

The name of the game for device was consistency. Only the two first events of the year was he not able—barely—to get a 1.00 rating. Just as staggering is the amount of good maps he had, with a 1.00 rating 73% of maps (#2) and an astonishing 52% of maps with over 1.15 (#3).

At 1.28, device’s impact rating was the second highest of all—a direct result of his abilities as an all-around player; getting multi-kills in 20.6% of his rounds, #4; opening kills, 0.13 per round, #8, with a 57% success rate, #7; and winning 51 1vsX situations, #3.

His weapons also tell a story. With the AWP, device has 0.31 KPR and is #13, while with the rifle he had 0.25, leading ahead of the rest of AWPers. This versatility further backs the notion of device as a well-rounded player.

While his numbers seem to be those of somebody who could be even higher than the #3 in our ranking, device’s 1.05 rating in big matches, the lowest in the top ten, and the aforementioned lack of stand-out events kept him from climbing the only one or two positions possible.

"Well I think that the Swedish player 'draken' could sneak on the list if he continues to develop. He is a strong AWPer as well, and could be in the next Swedish shuffle for a spot in one of the top teams they can create."

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2016 ranking powered by EGB.com and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were picked.

For me its kinda retarded device to be still in the low tops just because when he is playing he is being average players. Compared to everyone else in his team he doesn't have that many slumps, which basically puts him on top of them, but that doesn't make him that big of a deal. Compared to all the other 5 guys from the top 20 he hasn't done even the half of their job.

ok device was better than autimatic i admit.
i mean fallen vs device aint even debateable at this point. fallen won everything while having the reins on his team.
rejoice BRBRazilians. last time you will take top 2.
meh.
careface :3

Yes and you saw the results of his team?
A player isnt only raw performance because in that case S1mple and so on would be much better on this list, and after all he wasn't in my opinion top 3,he plays very well but lets be honest he dropped his performance a lot....

do you watch games or just look at stats? device is known for choking, fallen known for being super clutch.
grats on device having good stats in group stages, maybe if he gets to more finals this year the stats will show for it.

I agree, this year 3rd place is really good for him and Dev1ce deserve it. Sadly, as you said, they, Astralis, choke to much. But they did really well last months and I'm happy for them, hope they win more this year.
And, Fallen and Cold are probably the last two players of this rank.

fallen's awp>=device's awp imo
they just have a bit different roles:
-device is always the main carry and the team plays for him
-fallen has another carry in his team and he plays for the team
that's how i see it

Are you challenged? Look at the stats, tier 2? Since when? they had roster changes, and their performance went down ofc, they just changed the most important player (IGL) they had to adapt with that, even with all that he managed to be one of the most consistent players of 2016, look at stats #StatsDontLie

hltv.org/?pageid=246&playerid=7592&stats..
I seriously dont understand people who calls him overrated. Look at this statistics from big events in 2016. Even when astralis was utterly shit some period during the year. Is that bad stats or am i blind? Like really?

I don't know where the fuck people are getting that s1mple carried the majors, s1mple played good but liquid did a great job also, fallen doesn't fucking choke on important matches and is a much better awper than s1mple(while also achieving more)

Device did a impressive job this year, but he didnt win a major. This is too strong stuff. Fallen and Cold won 2 majors doing almost everything for their team (except Fer rush that was also important).

Totally agree.. Fallen should take the #1 spot..
Coldzera is a machine, individually speaking.. But fallen is the best awper in the world and the best IGL.. The biggest personality of CSGO in 2016. Forbes under 30.. He's like One man army.

he's by far the most "valuable" player in the game
can you imagine SK without fallen? it's impossible
i can imagine SK without cold if they get another insanely skilled player, but fallen's qualities are irreplaceable

That's what i'm talking about..
I feel sorry for Fallen not being recognized as the best player in the world..
It's like a goalkeeper who will never get the FIFA award of the best player of the year, cause he doesn't score goals. Unfair.

"device’s 1.05 rating in big matches, the lowest in the top ten" THAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT ROFL
As always retarded ranking by HLTV, Snax and S1mple should be above him.
Who gives a fuck about consistency in tier2/3 events IF you can't PERFORM AT BIG EVENTS

I think that if you put your blindfold aside you can see the reason for this, just search for stats and see moron, sk won all majors and multiples final finishes at events, all with fallen and coldzera carrying, the only reason fnatic didn't have 2 players in top2 is because the 2nd best player in fnatic wasn't close to olofmeister like fallen is to coldzera, I don't know why I'm even replying to a illogical subhuman like you but now you know the reasons.

FalleN was the best awper through this year because his rivalry with GuardiaN was put on pause because of his injury.
Plus, FalleN is the guy that proved that you can be a star player topfragging AND IGL super well aswell consistently.

Well indeed he was,however its more of the individual rating more then team,and device had overall better year then fallen and simple(by stats big events majors lan) however he obviously did not win 2 majors,but at the very same point difference between device and fallen was the fact that device had to be star player and awper because his teammates sometimes played good sometimes like shit,on the other hand fallen had to be good awper,but he did not need to be star player because he had cold.

well you can't determine that when fallen played versus obviously better opponents in the finals, instead of choking and going out in quarters. Device is more like niko, it doesn't matter if you farm stats against shit teams when you go out at group stage, fallen is the most complete player overrall.

Depends what you consider complete,obviously device is similar to niko but you cannot expect same achivments from team like mouz/old astralis and similar teams vs teams like sk/old fnatic etc,mainly because of his teammates..I mean look for example in mouz v ast v sk
Niko-Kjaerbye-Cold
ChrisJ-Device-Fallen
Spidi-Karrigan-Taco
Denis-X9pnix-Fnx
Nex-Dupreeh-Fer
Niko is/was godlike player in mouz,and he was only one who was doing something,Kjaerbye went from godlike player from Dignitas to shit in Astralis,Cold is great rifler and awper also "godlike",so in theory they should all match up equally,but they dont.
ChrisJ is far from tier1 awper,he was inconsistant before now he's somewhat fixed but he cant match up neither against Fallen or Device,Device is overall very good player,seems like he's doing his job properly but you dont expect from him to carry as much as Niko..Fallen is very good awper,more of an person for highlights and flashy plays then calm style of awping to get 1 peek and fall back,he can do a lot and he can RELY on his TEAM.
Spidi..bot? Karrigan..not far from that,usually person who gets a 3k or 4k in 1 round and then goes quiet for next 7 rounds,Taco?MASTER of missed shots while spraying,so yeh kinda bot in his team but...
Denis..similar to spidi,not a lot of impact hopefully he can stay alive somewhere maybe get 1 kill.. X9n somewhat of a player,gets good match here and there,not a lot but he's kind of a avarge player..Fnx quiet player,he's usually carrying with Fer if his team stars losing a lot of rounds(6 0 7 0 etc.) underrestimated by some poeple.
Nex very capable player,but without Gob B he's quite bad far from what he's supposted to be...Dupreeh slightly better then X9n however just like Xip he got matchs up and down,maybe some sort of 1.05 avarge rating..Fer capable player,irritating as fuck with his mp9 plays,doing same as Fnx usually..
Yes I dont know how to write properly name of Xipn9x.
You cant compare team achivments vs player achivments...

Thing is, you can't compare players like fallen with device, because players like device while having better stats, plays against worse teams in the early parts of the tournaments then loses. FalleN played all the time against top2 teams in the grand finals, while device got exit frags against tier2 teams in the group stage before getting beaten.

Well maybe,but they're still at same tournament facing same teams(kinda..) so neither can fallen or device pick who they're going to play against,but if we exclude majors SK did go out in finals in every other event..

Simple had bad events that were very bad. He technically only won ESL NY. But we have to consider this from the point of device being a carry player who does good even when his team is shit (Playing with Zonic). He is also very consistent and versatile like Snax and Simple. The top 3,4,5 are all really close because Device Snax and Simple are all good but different. Snax doesn't hard carry but he is consistent and wins more. Simple carries very hard but he plays less events and does poorly in a couple. Device is carrying and staying consistent but his team lacks achievements.

i think this is well deserved for fallen. people tend to overlook some of fallen's achievements besides "just" being the igl of the year's best performing team. he was arguably the best awper in the world this year, carried sk in almost all games where cold was under performing and made some memorable clutches.

Device barely made it past the quarters of every tournament. Fallen played in Finals against Fnatic, a hot G2, and liquid with S1mple (who beat NAVI and FNATIC). Device was better in stats but he is the designated clutcher and star. Fallen often has to entry and he is also IGL so it is much harder to frag well.

If i say that SK will not even reach top 10 do you believe me? Just look and see!!! The third world poor "monkeys"had a good run cause they were hungry for money that's all!!!!!!!look carefully at the monkey bots this year i think everyone will laugh! To start my prediction SK WILL NOT PASS THE MAJOR GROUPS!!!!!!! Glhf

Well, sucking balls for 11 months of 2016, than making good runs in 2 big tournaments, and winning 1 more, EZ top-3, I'm not hating but if you are a top 5 player you must prove that you can win tourneys. It's almost the same as to put Niko here. OMG

barely deserved 3rd place imo, FaLLen is infinitely better then device.. Device is known to choke, whereas fallen carries his team in big games. I would never chose device as a teammate over fallen for any position.
edit : maybe if device gets to more semi's/finals this year his stats will mean something.

You need to take into consideration that dev1ces team didn't really play that well in 2016, they woke up a bit lately but he really had to step up big time. 9/18 top1, 5/18 top2 in Astralis, just once top5.
Luminosity/SK played super well so Fallen had an easier job(not taking anything from him, just a fact). What does going to semi-final or final has to do with individual performance? He was a beast this year, against all odds

because you play better teams in the semi's/finals aka the best teams are the tournament, therefore it makes your stats WAY more significant, as well as, getting the stats in the first place. Alot of tournaments the group stages half the teams arent top 10 and its just a matter of when u make it further in a tournament its more games and its harder to hold better stats with more games played. Also, device's roll is to play the spots where he gets all the initial 1v1's, Fallen does not play that role, yet he manages to IGL and frag like a monster and 1v3 clutch awp literally way to often.

I guess I'll argue for both sides. Device is basically NikO except better and his team wins. He gets easier kills but so does Cold. Yes he shouldn't be ranked 2 because his achievements were poor, but he definitely deserves 3 because of his amazing consistency and star power.

IGL and best awper of 2016? Carries his team when Cold isn't enough and invented a great tactical new style? Clutch player who can hit shots under pressure and played in almost all of the finals he attended. Device barely played semifinals and Simple is inconsistent and played less events

i get what youre saying but cold has carried from day 1 almost yeah fallen is clutch and one hell of a player and owns on OP but without cold fallen isn't the number 2 player imo. hes the best IGL in the game right now and can be argued the best awper but just imo i feel that cold opens up alot of opportunitys for fallen in-game its like jordan coulnd't be jordan without pippen

worst # 3 ever i mean c'mon fallen is a great player but device earned that #2 spot he shuold have got all year sure they won both majors but c'mon man cold ez #1 but dev should have been 2 but well deserved for cold fallen and device 3 GREAT players

totally overrated, most overrated top 3 hltv in history. Snax and S1mple we're better so much, danish HLTV lul. He's a tipycal good and stable player like Flamie or Dennis but top 3 no way , no no no. Undeserved, 5th place is the maximum

Bold prediction
We asked device who he thought could be a young up and comer to make it into next year’s top 20, and he chose Epsilon’s AWPer, William "draken" Sundin.
William "draken" Sundin
"Well I think that the Swedish player 'draken' could sneak on the list if he continues to develop. He is a strong AWPer as well, and could be in the next Swedish shuffle for a spot in one of the top teams they can create."
confirmed -pyth +draken